a love language

karen baumgart

if love does, indeed, have languages,

your tidy lists of possible pleasures

could be our native tongue.


stitched in golden-threaded letters,

each one is a collected works

of bespoke delight,

woven neatly into our secret places.


and then, there is the notion of you

earnestly daisy-chaining thoughts

of café dates, and novels, and

sunny spots for reading

and kissing.


your lists are toffee-dipped fingers

sticky and wild against my skin,

deeply pulsing

like matched heartbeats

barely visible through fluttering gauze.

Karen Baumgart lives in Australia and adores beautiful quotes, pink things, cats, and chai tea. Even after many years, she loves her work in human services policy, especially when it enables marginalised people to have a voice. Karen used to be an English teacher, and is quite certain that writing is, indeed, the best therapy. Her poetry has been published in Curio Cabinet Magazine, Moss Puppy Magazine, Hearth & Coffin Literary Journal, and Litmora Literary Magazine.

Instagram: @miss.cake.girl

Twitter / X: @cake_girl__

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